De-Risking Toxic Product Production
Member: Amyris
Project dates: 2021 – 2024
Many commercially important bio-based products inhibit the growth of the organisms that produce them, making it difficult to achieve high productivity, titer, and yield. Over the course of this project, member Amyris worked to de-risk the commercial production of such compounds. They tested a novel approach for in-situ product removal (ISPR) of growth-inhibitory products in a 20-liter bioreactor using an oil-based solvent perfusion method.
Amyris demonstrated the remarkable success of this method when using a proprietary monoterpene-expressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. They also completed a techno-economic analysis, pinpointing the factors essential for achieving cost-effective implementation. This research is now complemented by Project MONDE (funded with support from Schmidt Sciences) to continue advancing process design by scaling up the ISPR technology from a 20-liter to 200-liter fermentation scale.
Funding source: U.S. Department of Defense
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